As the world's leading provider of confidential insider information from 1979 to 2000, Auto Industry Newsletter has now re-emerged by popular request to provide chief executives with the insight necessary to meet today's challenges.
Editor: John Mortimer

Thursday, 28 January 2016

GKN
Driveline has been able to reveal itself as vendor of choice
for new lightweight constant velocity joint (CV Joint) system
in the BMW 7 Series, production of which began over six months ago at Plant
Dingolfing, Germany.

Bosch and Daimler are working on a joint
programme to introduce direct injection (DI) CNG engines in passenger cars.

Monday, 25 January 2016

McLaren Automotive
will be hoping that the economic storms buffeting emerging regions, such as
Brazil, Russia and China (how long before China - already dumping steel - starts dumping cars in Europe), will not swamp its forecasts for this year and next.

Proton of Malaysia and Ricardo of the UK have just celebrated the ‘first
fire’ of the prototype of an innovative new engine family set to spearhead the
next phase of the Malaysian automaker’s growth, even to the point of making a return to Europe.

Thursday, 14 January 2016

Plans are in place to
import 3,000 LDV Maxus V80 vans, made in China, into the UK where the design
originated in 2000, when it was a joint venture between LDV in Washwood Heath,
Birmingham and Korea's Daewoo.

Monday, 11 January 2016

BMW’s sales seem
unchallenged by world events. In 2015, BMW scored its most successful year ever
for the BMW Group with annual sales climbing six per cent to set a new record for the fifth year in
a row.

No doubt in an attempt to take
the US public’s eye off its woes with diesel car emissions and point the eye to
the future, Volkswagen AG has launched its BUDD-e, an idea of motoring life in
2019 – one year ahead of Audi’s 2018 e-tron.

Monday, 4 January 2016

Ricardo’s
niche engine assembly plant at Shoreham, UK, has now tripled in size to provide
improved technical capabilities, paving the way for future low-volume,
multi-variant engine production. The site can now produce 5,000 engines a year,
100/week.

Frank
Reintjes, Daimler Trucks’ global head of powertrain and manufacturing, has said
that for proprietary, that is independent, suppliers of engines, transmissions
and drive axles in North America, the complexity of meeting the operating
requirements ‘of all customers and all their different applications, is killing
them’.